Who would pass up an invite to miss earth singapore...swimsuite final. I mean, its just ... to quote FHM... a guy thing! Not that it really means much, part of the usual cattleparade around the cat walk yet none the less, hear their story about a better world and saving the planet... usual spiel.

What did surprise me was two things... 1) Winnie who invited me was actually part of the pagent, dubbed my favourite number 11! and 2) the guy whom I bumped off our table Vivek turns out to be an options interest rate trader at Credit Suisse in Tokyo, and was there to support Winnie. He'd further been at Mimolette the night before, and so we quickly teamed together to cheer for her! go grrl!

Of course the evening to follow was a night out, Noir and Attica... though I recall having previously vouched not to frequent that SPG club again...though it has seemingly improved in quality and calibre since my last visit a good 12 months ago.

This year, celebrated my birthday in Moscow with some new friends. I must say that its was all about the company, and we certainly had a great group together.

Considering its only been 8 weeks, the network of expats is great, real supportive and loads of fun. Thomas made dinner at his place, invited Chris, Frank and me over for pasta, and we started the evening with a casual chat on his 11th story balcony (of course summer permitting). Later we met up at Pub Molly Gwynn with lovely Natasha, her sister and cousin, Gilles, Steve and few others.

Thomas, you make a great wing-man!! He held out with me to survive Hard Rock Cafe and the Real McCoy till the sun finally came up at 6:30am (again). Super times!